High [CVE-2026-16526] Privilege escalation to root via linux_sockets PMDA vulnerability
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-16526 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
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Summary
A flaw in the PCP linux_sockets module exposes an unsecured internal connection. An attacker with initial code execution can exploit this to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary commands as root.
This is an Important privilege escalation vulnerability in PCP where an attacker can escalate privileges from the `pcp` user to `root`. This flaw requires a prior `linux_sockets` command injection vulnerability and a non-default configuration where the `linux_sockets` PMDA is loaded as a DSO in PMCD.
Exploitation can occur locally or remotely depending on the `pmcd` and `pmproxy` configurations. Red Hat severity: Important — CVSS 8.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-403. Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
Red Hat lists Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 as not affected. Will not fix / out of support: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Red Hat fixing advisory: RHSA-2026:55617, RHSA-2026:55560, RHSA-2026:55740.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat package: pcp.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 11 days ago·verify at source
- pcp-0:7.0.3-5.el10_2
- pcp-0:5.3.7-22.el8_10.5
- pcp-0:6.3.7-8.el9_8.4
- RHSA-2026:55617
- RHSA-2026:55560
- RHSA-2026:55740
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 11 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- To mitigate this vulnerability, ensure that the `linux_sockets` PMDA is not configured to load as a Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) within PMCD. The default configuration for this PMDA is daemon mode, which is not affected by this flaw. Review your `pmcd.conf` file to confirm the `linux_sockets` PMDA is not loaded as a DSO. If changes are made to `pmcd.conf`, a restart of the `pmcd` service is required for them to take effect.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 11 days ago·verify at source
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